Ceres Chaos [Exosuit Progression]

That whole exchange had happened in less than 2 minutes, leaving both of them panting as they tried to recover their breath and stamina.

Ceres stared at Chad in shock, who was breathing hard, but yet carrying the entire exosuit metal arm with his own strength alone.

“Finally, a good fight!” Chad grinned, his face showing none of the strain that his body was bearing. Through sheer adrenaline, his movements became faster and stronger as Ceres was now on the defensive.

It felt as though disabling Chad’s left arm was instead removing the limiter. Ceres cursed as he was counting on the fight to be easier once he disabled a single arm – didn’t brawlers rely on their arms the most?

“Fuck it, plan B!” Ceres too turned off his exosuit limiters, freeing up all the safety limitations as he overclocked his hydraulic system to the maximum, purple steam escaping through the back and seams of his barebones exosuit frame.

He estimated that he could only last a few minutes at this peak state before the exosuit’s probability of failure exponentially increased.

His thrusts and footwork became two times faster. At the same time, three dragonflies with small weld lasers came out from a hidden compartment in his exosuit, spitting the small welding laser beams at Chad.

Ceres forced his NEIR level to the peak, manually controlling the drones along with his exosuit to counterattack against Chad’s increased speed and strength.

The exchange of blows became like a blur, with the viewers left astonished at what levels the two graduate kids can achieve. Some of the inners were even amazed by how Ceres, a no-name orphan could come this far in a mere nine months to go toe-to-toe with the best.

Wasn’t Chad supposed to be the champion? No matter how one saw it, Ceres had a chance of winning right here!

Chad was somehow still fending off the dragonflies while keeping Ceres at bay with his strong punches, as though he had no blind angles.

The dragonflies had to get closer than one meter from Chad for the small welding laser to actually be effective against the thick armour plating, but Chad continuously repositioned himself while throwing punches at Ceres, making it hard for the dragonflies to do their job.

Ceres too had to focus his mind to control the dragonflies properly at such a close range. He felt like his mind was splitting into four, with one controlling his body and the other three parsing the information the dragonflies were seeing and executing commands.

Any lapse in judgement would result in the dragonflies being easily crushed by Chad’s hands at such a close range.

The duel seemed to enter a sort of stalemate, but Ceres was very confident that his dragonflies will soon carve through the armour plates.

At the same time, Chad finally bellowed as he used both hands to smash the floor, causing a large amount of dust to fill the area.

The dust particles now attenuated the laser, making the dragonflies’ weld lasers ineffective, and both Chad and Ceres couldn’t see each other. Ceres didn’t have any targeting systems in place that could penetrate the cloud, and neither did Chad who had no helmet.

The movement shocked Ceres so much that he momentarily forgot to execute any commands to the drones, leaving them hovering in place.

“Fuck!” Ceres cursed as he ordered the three dragonflies to retreat out of the dust cloud as he did the same. But it was far too late, Chad had already jumped and grabbed two of them with a hand each, crushing them to pieces.

As the dust settled, it seemed that neither of them had gotten any advantage over the other.

The arena was even more hyped than ever before. The boiling point was almost reached. Tensions and expectations were all running higher.

Did Ceres have a backup? Of course, he did, he had days to prepare for the duel!

“Time for plan C!” Ceres grinned, relishing in the fight as he dashed towards Chad again, spearhead in hand.

Chad too was smiling, enjoying the battle as he threw punch after punch at the nimble Ceres.

They both now were in their own small world, a battle between just the two of them regardless of whatever larger force or group wanted them to do.

The crowd was still cheering in full force from the amazing display, almost as though they were watching two masters battling.

Ceres finally managed to land a hit on Chad, putting his full force into his right arm which threw the spearhead at Chad’s left thigh, precisely lodging into the previous opening that was cut open by the sword. The force wasn’t enough to break through into Chad’s flesh, but it was enough to cause Chad to stumble.

Chad knew what was happening and reached to grab it immediately. He wasn’t going to allow Ceres to shock his exosuit again.

However, this time, the spearhead still managed to send out some residual electromagnetic pulses, causing the brawler suit to malfunction for a split second. But that split second was more than enough for Ceres to capitalize on.

Ceres immediately went for the back of Chad’s neck, accelerating forward with his thrusters and his sword. Jumping over the twitching brawler exosuit, he somersaulted in the air and slashed at the neck area of Chad, which was where the processor and nerval jack was.

The processor was severely damaged by the slash, causing the brawler exosuit to suffer even more internal damage. Many of the components performed a hard reset, going through the boot-up stage, allowing Ceres to rush back for another round of attack. “No way you can move the exosuit now!”

This time, he was going to go for the legs. However, as Ceres came up behind him, the brawler exosuit suddenly stopped its boot-up stage, instead swivelling to smack Ceres with the back of the hand.

It hit Ceres right in the chest, a solid hit!

The crowd gasped.

It was the first time Ceres had been hit this entire fight, and with no armour plates, Ceres was bound to be severely injured.

The force caused Ceres to be sent flying to the side more than ten meters, sliding towards the edge of the floating arena platform.

He coughed up blood as he struggled to get up, his right rib fractured. The impact against the ground nearly crushed his frame, which compressed against his skin, ripping chunks off.

The sword clattered on the side, sliding away from the collapsed Ceres. Half of the audience was now completely on their feet, trying to see better.

[Ceres finally has been hit fully in the chest! Is this the end of the duel? He had zero armour plates. If Ceres can fully recover from being hit by a fully armoured exosuit hand, he will be the new legend of the arena, but it seems impossible. This is bordering the realm of transcendents!]

In the distance, he saw Chad exit the brawler exosuit. It seems that at the last second, Chad turned off the entire exosuit plus its locking mechanism, allowing him to have full manual control without any motorized help, using his sheer body strength to lift and move the exosuit to smack Ceres.

Ceres smiled with bloody teeth as he struggled to stand on his two feet, breathing hard as he tried to endure the pain in his ribs that was amplified by the NEIR level.

The sensitivity level that his brain was running at caused the sharp pain to scream at him, causing him to be unable to stand up properly. The crowd held their breath, as they watched in suspense.

“I now respect you, Ceres. You’ve proven yourself worthy to be remembered by me. I won’t ever look down on you again.” Chad said as he walked to the front of his brawler suit, dismantling the front arms along with the metal gauntlets.

“But this is the end of the road. I hope you survive to fight me once again!”

Ceres could only stand and breathe, his body unable to move due to the searing pain in his chest and almost everywhere else.

He could tell all of his ribs on the right was fractured or cleanly broken, causing him to wince every time he breathed in or out.

The blood pounded in his ears, his head ringing from the concussion as the crowd chanted, each side supporting their fighter.

He watched as Chad put on the front arms and the metal gauntlets, using his sheer arm strength to carry them.

An audible gasp came from the crowd.

How insane must Chad be to carry the middleweight exosuits on his own strength? He was only twenty years old.

The duel was too exciting, with viewers from all over tuning in remotely. The tables were now turned, with Ceres suffering a devastating injury while Chad still had strength left in him to carry the metal gauntlets.

Chad still couldn’t move too fast without a functioning processor and motors, walking at a slow pace towards Ceres.

Viewers around the planet tuned in, with the word of mouth spreading even faster than wildfire. The viewership number reached an all-time high, and the entire planet now had its eyes on Ceres and Chad.

The dumpling store at Mrs Qiu’s was dead silent.

No one knew how to react, seeing that Ceres was obviously at a disadvantage.

Even Braton in the hospital ward, for how much he admired Chad’s arms, couldn’t help but watch intently at Ceres. “Come on, Brother, you’re the main character. Win!”

Erik gripped Trissa’s hand, who also gripped back as they placed their dreams and hopes onto him. “Come on, Ceres!”

Lisa gritted her teeth as she clenched her hands. “Fight back you idiot! Stand! Stand like your life depends on it!”

The one gripping the most was Cardenia, who was almost crushing the holster on her chair.

Even Zachary didn’t have the time to laugh at her, also enthralled by the duel. It was a complete battle of wills, a true competition.

Was this the end of the journey for Ceres?

Ceres took stock of his situation as Chad walked slowly towards him. He still had a good functioning exosuit, and the thrusters and powerpack weren’t hurt in the fall.

His body, however, was screaming at him to rest.

To lie down, and to just take a break.

Maybe the competition wasn’t worth it.

Was it really worth pushing this hard?

If he gave up right now, wouldn’t everything still be okay?

He would no longer have access to the Thorn Chamber, which was alright.

He was in the top four of the competition!

He could easily apply for any job he wanted to now, both planetside and off-world. And if he failed here – the outer and inner divide would be less violent as well.

Wasn’t it because he was on a winning streak that the outers were emboldened to fight back against inners bullying?

Ceres metaphorically slapped himself, gritting his teeth.

What the hell was he thinking?

Who cared about society or what politics were?

What did he want?

What did he want to achieve in his life?

The faces of Erik, Trissa, Braton, Lisa, and Ardan all popped up in his head, as though they were cheering him on.

He heard the cheers of the crowd through his pounding ears and the swallowing of his own blood and saliva.

“GET UP CERES! WIN FOR US!”

“COME ON BOY, I PUT MY ENTIRE LIFE SAVINGS ON YOU!”

“STAY DOWN, OUTER! LEARN YOUR PLACE!”

The conflicting sides of the audience roared back and forth, taunting and launching counter-cheers.

A chuckle emerged from Ceres’s chest, causing him to cough up blood. Stay down? Him? After all, he had done?!

Ceres finally knew what he wanted to do in this very moment, here and now:

I want to win!

He couldn’t fall here.

Not in this arena, not in front of his friends and zone, not in front of the planet!

He recalled Uncle Dawn and remembered that this was his goal.

He had been striving for it this whole year.

It’s do or die!

If he doesn’t step up now, then when will he step up?

Now was the time to make a stand.

As Chad walked towards Ceres, Ceres also resolved himself, starting to walk shakily towards him. With every step Ceres took, the vibration and pain rippled through his entire being. The NEIR level further amplified it, causing Ceres to wince every time he moved.

He felt his body aching and hurting all over like sharp needles digging into his flesh, but he forced his legs to move – one step at a time.

Each step gave him momentum, it gave him drive, allowing him to focus on the goal – win!

It invoked a surge of adrenaline through his body as it started to ignore the pain from the chest and body.

Each step made him move faster, picking up speed.

A rising tide of raw emotion, the thrill of the battle started to rise within him, almost bursting out of his heart.

Miles away, in a small corner of a dirty workshop, a white box shook violently, the inscriptions on the box changing rapidly!

It seemed to be reacting to something, continuously humming an unheard tone as Ceres started to speed up into a run towards Chad in the arena.

The arena started to cheer as they could sense it: the finale was here.

“I’M NOT GOING TO STAY DOWN!” Letting out an ear-splitting roar from the depths of his heart, Ceres felt a surge of strength erupting from his body.

He boosted his main thrusters towards Chad and kicked off the ground, thrusting his spear forward while Chad threw his right hand forward too.

The clash between the spear and the right hand was devastating, creating a shockwave of air that blew the two of them apart, with Ceres’ spear shattering into pieces.

Chad’s eyes widened in shock, his right arm numbed from the collision with the spear.

The metal gauntlet had a spiderweb of cracks branch out across it before it started to fracture in chunks too!

How did Ceres have that kind of strength?

His spear couldn’t even break through his armour previously, what was happening?

Ceres let out yet another roar, almost turning into a beast, letting his battle instincts take over.

He swapped to his short sword and rushed towards Chad again, uncaring for the blood that was dripping out of his chest wound from the smack before.

Leaping up into the air, he slashed his sword downwards at Chad.

Chad had no time to think any longer, as he immediately used his left metal gauntlet to block the downward slash from Ceres.

The sudden force was so great again that even Chad’s knees buckled under the pressure, making him stagger backwards. A large gash formed across the left metal gauntlet, but it didn’t break apart.

Ceres’ sword managed to withstand the slash, its edge dulling a bit as he landed on the ground before lunging in a forward thrust towards Chad. The crowd cheered, with half of the audience starting to chant Ceres’s name.

The boiling point of the arena had been hit!

[There it is! The mysterious inner strength of Ceres that only shows in intense scenarios! We’ve seen it before in the qualifiers and a bit during the fight with Maddy, but now we finally see his true innate talent, and he seems to be overpowering Chad! Does Chad have anything left in the tank?]

[Whoever wins, this match will go down in Athen’s history!]

Cardenia cheered in joy, exclaiming loudly. “LET’S GO CERES, BEAT THAT BASTARD!”, before realising that the Imperial Prince Zachary was still in the capsule.

She coughed slightly, sitting back in her chair embarrassed, but not moving her eyes from the detailed holo-monitor.

Zachary didn’t blame her, this was nothing short of a miraculous comeback. Who wouldn’t shout at this? He himself wanted to stand up and shout from the top of his lungs too!

The dumpling store broke out into cheers, with everyone screaming their heads off in support of Ceres! “GO CERES GO! SHOW THEM WHAT WE OUTERS ARE MADE OF!”

The arena was even louder, the roars of the audience overwhelming the entire area. Even the enforcers and arena guards stationed there were shocked to see the emotional rollercoaster of the duel.

Both outers and inners were shouting their lungs out, either to cheer Ceres or Chad on.

The orphanage was also in full festivities, as Ceres lunged again and again at Chad, keeping him on the defensive.

The Gladius was awash with many cheers, with Arden joining the bodybuilder club and screaming at the top of his lungs for Ceres.

There were, however, a few places that were not cheering.

Oliver Athen had an extremely dark expression on his face. “Doctor Wu, I thought you shared that Chad wouldn’t lose to him.” He watched as his grandson tried to parry the hits coming in from Ceres, being forced back into a defensive posture.

“I… I never expected this to happen, but I’m sure your grandson will be able to fight back! He hasn’t suffered any major damage yet, unlike Ceres who will eventually run out of steam.”

“Do it.”

“Now…?”

“THEN WHEN ELSE? AFTER WE LOSE THE WAGER?!”

Oliver Athen roared at the doctor, who squirmed in his seat, taking out a remote. He passed the remote to Oliver, who stared at the screen of Ceres. Without saying anything more, Oliver pressed a single button on the remote.

A buzzing sound suddenly flooded Ceres’ head and disrupted his control of the exosuit, causing him to lose focus in the fight.

Chad noticed the sudden advantage that he got, using his left arm to finally throw a counterpunch.

Ceres snapped out of it and managed to block in time, but was still stumbling backwards. The humming sound was still echoing throughout his entire brain.

Ceres slapped his ears a few times, but he couldn’t figure out what was going on. “What the hell is this sound?!”

A few people in the audience noticed that Ceres was acting much weirder, having suddenly lost the momentum.

The shouts from the crowds trying to cheer Ceres on only got larger, while more and more people noticed the anomaly.

[What happened to Ceres? Has he finally reached the limit of his mysterious strength?]

“What the fuck is this noise?!” Ceres shouted as he tried to use his mind to find the source. However he couldn’t find it, it was not coming from the exosuit or the processor. The sound rang clear through his nerval jack, slowly inducing a throbbing pain in his head.

“I can’t lose, not right now! Not when I’m so close!” As his NEIR level continued pushing way past the theoretical maximum that he could reach, black lines on the back of his neck started to appear, stemming from the nerval jack along the blood vessels of his body.

It began to block off some of the sounds to make it bearable for Ceres. Before Chad could launch a full counterattack, Ceres again roared as he swung rapidly at Chad, forcing Chad back onto the defensive.

The left metal gauntlet could only withstand so much damage, breaking apart as Ceres performed a powerful downward swing, knocking back Chad onto the floor and causing the arena floor to fragment.

Out of nowhere, the humming sound increased in strength again, as though someone turned up a dial. As more of the black lines emerged, eventually covering the entire skin around his entire nerval jack, the humming sound began to dim again.

The black lines started to branch out even further into Ceres’ face and chest, flowing along the veins and capillaries, converging onto his pupils and heart as he summoned the final strength to leap onto Chad, stomping on his chest.

Chad coughed up blood from the impact, his ribs cracking, unable to get up with Ceres standing on his chest! Chad grabbed Ceres’ legs, attempting to crush his ankle, but Ceres didn’t react nor did he care anymore, ignoring all the pain.

Chad saw the black lines stretching across through veins, pulsating like a rhythm through Ceres’ face, wondering what kind of monster he had woken up!

“WIN!” Ceres bellowed as he swung downwards with his sword with force unlike anything before, aiming for Chad’s arms. Chad closed his eyes, unable to watch his own arm get chopped off.

A moment of silence passed, and for a while, Chad thought he died. But soon he realized he could still feel his arms, the sound of the sword clattering onto the floor and hear the increasing shouts of the crowd.

He opened his eyes to see Ceres's lifeless body falling, collapsing on the floor opposite to him.

The body of Ceres lay dead still as the black lines were nowhere to be found.